Aston Villa have now suffered four consecutive defeats.
A certain club from Manchester might be getting more of the spotlight for the very same reason, but Aston Villa also find themselves in a spot of bother.
Unai Emery’s side went into their game against Liverpool at Anfield knowing that they were facing the top dogs of the Premier League.
Arne Slot’s side are sitting top of the pile and they have only lost one game in all competitions since the Dutchman replaced the legendary figure, Jurgen Klopp.
So, with Aston Villa being out-of-form, it was going to be far more difficult and the last thing you needed was the officials making poor mistakes.
There were two penalty shouts during the game – one in each half – Ibrahima Konate’s challenge on Ollie Watkins to start with.
That was rightfully waved away and nothing was awarded.
But when Liverpool were leading 1-0, Pau Torres had every right to protest Conor Bradley pulling his shirt back and stopping him from going for a header during a set-piece.
The unpopular David Coote was the referee, and after VAR checked the incident, they waved it away, but were they right to do so?
Alan Shearer says Pau Torres shouldn’t have been awarded a penalty during Aston Villa’s defeat to Liverpool
Despite Villa struggling for form, they should have scored at least one goal in the first half, but they were denied by Caoimhin Kelleher in between the sticks.
Credit to Liverpool, they were ruthless on the counter and hurt the away side, as that Torres moment came just before Mohamed Salah could add to Darwin Nunez’s first half opener.
Alan Shearer explained that the reason why the penalty wasn’t awarded was because it ‘isn’t sustained’ pulling of the shirt, as he told Match of the Day.
And the former striker agreed with that ruling by adding it’s ‘probably not enough for it to be a penalty, no’.
“Emery wasn’t happy with this Torres and Bradley coming together,” said Shearer. “There is no doubt that he is pulling his shirt.
“But what they will tell you is that it isn’t sustained. Probably not enough for it to be a penalty, no.”
Even Unai Emery was moaning
Last week, Emery celebrated his 53rd birthday and it resulted in Villa conceding four goals to Tottenham.
And this week, he celebrated his 100th game in charge of Villa, with defeat hitting him in the face once again.
But as Aston Villa fans will know too well, Emery isn’t one to moan, he always respects the VAR call and moves on. Always.
But even he was moaning at Torres not being awarded a penalty, which tells you everything you need to know. It was a clear pen, all day long, as posted by Jacob Tanswell on Twitter.
“It was clearly a penalty because they pull the shirt of Pau Torres,” said the Villa manager.
